Texas A&M Football: 3 Storylines to Watch for the Florida Game

Storylines abound when it comes to this Texas A&M football team this season, with seemingly each week providing its own particular brand of turmoil/upheaval/whatever word you want to use.  The Aggies have been the subject of much media scrutiny this year, is the point, and that is due in no small part to the head man for Texas A&M football: Jimbo Fisher.  As his old rival, the Florida Gators, come rolling into town this weekend, the talk around the Aggie program continues to swirl in the midst of a 4-game losing streak— the longest such streak under Fisher.  Here are a few storylines to watch as the Aggies take on the Gators:

Can Conner Weigman continue to get it done for this Texas A&M football team?

The freshman phenom saw his first start against the Ole Miss Rebels last week, and the Aggies fell just short of pulling off the upset over a top-15 ranked team.  Weigman impressed in his debut, going 28/44 for 338 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.  It was the first spark of hope at the quarterback position in 2 years for Aggie fans (and perhaps even longer, depending on what you think about Kellen Mond).

Can Weigman follow that up against the Gators?  To be sure, this Florida defense hasn’t been extremely impressive this year.  All of Aggieland will be waiting with bated breath as the first-year signal caller trots out to take the field for the Aggies’ first possession on Saturday.  I have a sneaking suspicion Weigman will continue to flash his potential, both through the air and on the ground.

Can the Aggie defense contain Anthony Richardson?

Gator QB Anthony Richardson has had an up-and-down year, from beating preseason top-10 Utah, to almost losing to South Florida, to coming close to knocking off the newly-minted-number-1 Tennessee Volunteers on Rocky Top.  His greatest asset is his scrambling ability, given that the dude is built like the second coming of Cam Newton and has the speed to make defenses pay when they break down.

The QB run game was quite the issue for the Aggies last week against Ole Miss, with the Rebels converting several key downs by Jaxson Dart scrambles, and Arkansas QB KJ Jefferson had similar success at times against A&M (albeit more in the designed run game).  This will be a big game for the Aggie linebacking corps, who didn’t have the best game last week.  Edgerrin Cooper’s return would be a huge boon for A&M in this matchup.

Trends on the line

Jimbo Fisher has had a lot of success against the Gators in his career, notching a record of 8-1 across his time at FSU and one game at A&M.  This is one that seems personal to him more often than not, which is understandable given the history between him and that institution.  Another trend is that Fisher has yet to lose back-to-back home games in his time at A&M— of course, this season has been one of many depressing firsts.

These, of course, are coming right up against the 4-game losing streak that the Aggies currently have the ignoble distinction of holding.  A win against the Gators would be a balm not only on the souls of many Aggie fans, disappointed with how the season has turned out, but might quiet some of the noise surrounding the program, if just for a week.  Can the Aggies get it done?  We’ll have to wait and see.

Texas A&M-Florida kicks off at 11 AM CT Saturday, and will be broadcast on ESPN.